Recap / Justice League Unlimited S 2 E 6 Double Date

Huntress infiltrates Steven Mandragora's high-security mansion, sneaks into his bedroom, and empties her crossbow into the bed. But she is shocked to peel back the sheets and see a pile of artfully arranged pillows. Before she can do more, she is teleported up to the Watchtower, where she is confronted by an angry J'onn J'onzz. He says she was ordered to stay away from Mandragora, while she is appalled to realize that the League is actually protecting him. J'onn dismisses her from the League and orders her to clear out her quarters. He then asks Huntress to turn in her Justice League membership card.

Returning to her cabin, she happens across a muttering Question, engaged in his obsessive search for a link between Lex Luthor and Project Cadmus. Using all the feminine wiles she can command, she offers Question a deal: he helps her find Mandragora, and she'll share what she knows about Cadmus. Question accepts.

Mandragora, it turns out, is being kept in a safe house eating oysters by federal agents before appearing in court, as they expect him to testify on his criminal associates in exchange for leniency. The League has assigned Green Arrow and Black Canary to assist the agents. The task proves onerous, as Mandragora goes out of his way to be offensive. Before long, Green Arrow has to be restrained, though it is Canary who throws the punch that gets both of them expelled from the house.

Taking watch from a treehouse, Canary is annoyed that they have to go through so much trouble to protect a murderer, but Green Arrow admits however that the world isn't perfect. They both then soon share a moment together until they see Huntress and Question pull up outside. Forewarned by J'onn, they bar the way. The couples then engage in a ferocious battle. Question is quickly dispatched by Green Arrow, whereas Huntress and Black Canary seem evenly matched, until Black Canary reveals she has been holding back. Black Canary then finishes Huntress off. At the same time, two of Mandragora's thugs arrive at the front door dressed as policemen, causing a diversion that allows Mandragora to overpower his captors and escape.

As Canary argues with Huntress and Question over the ruins of the safe house, Arrow notices Question pick up something from the floor – a key to a locker at the train station. Arrow and Canary leave to pursue Mandragora, while Question reveals that the key was a decoy – the clue he picked up was a schedule of freighter arrivals at the local docks. However, Arrow was suspicious and he and Canary wait to see Huntress and Question leave.

En route to the docks, Question reveals that he knows full well that Huntress actually knows nothing about Cadmus, and also why she is so bent on revenge. Her father, Franco Bertinelli, was a powerful mob boss; when Huntress was only a child, Mandragora, Franco's chief enforcer, took over the gang, killing Huntress's parents while she watched from a hiding place. Blinking back tears, Huntress asks Question why he is helping her perform what he knows will be a revenge killing. He doesn't answer, but instead notices that Canary and Arrow are following them on her motorcycle. Question manages to lose them in a railway tunnel, but the two couples still reach the docks at the same time. Arrow and Canary try to overpower Mandragora, but he is too strong for them. Huntress aims her crossbow at him, and he surrenders.

He is expecting to be returned to custody, but Huntress says that's not what she has planned. She is about to execute him, when a small boy runs to Mandragora from an arriving ship, shouting "Papa!" Mandragora hugs his son, explaining that the boy was kidnapped by a rival gang, and he has only now managed to rescue him. He never intended to cooperate with the federal authorities, but instead was just stalling until the boy was rescued, then they would both disappear and take on new identities.

Huntress saw that the man who killed her parents was now a loving father. Question leaves the choice to Huntress, and she makes the right one: she turns her crossbow up and drops a heavy crane load onto Mandragora, knocking him unconscious. He is returned to federal custody, now left with no choice but to cooperate, while his son is likewise taken into protective custody.

Huntress realizes that Question knew all along what Mandragora's plan was, and that his son would be arriving. She asks why, then, would he go to such trouble to help her find him, including risking his own life. Sheepishly, Question admits it was for an entirely foolish and inconsequential reason: he likes her. Surprised at first but swept away, Huntress grabs him and plants a big kiss on his face (mask and all), then drags him away by his tie to someplace more private while Black Canary, who was watching, says "I'm sorry, but...eww!"

This episode includes examples of:

• Actually Pretty Funny: When Black Canary brushes off Mandragora's rude requests and insults to the people guarding him by saying that with all the enemies he's made, he "never knows when he's eating his last meal," he actually laughs.
• Armor-Piercing Question: During the drive to the docks, Question prods Huntress about her vendetta.
  Huntress: You wouldn't understand.
  Question: Wouldn't understand what? That he worked for your father, Franco Bertinelli? Or that your father was himself a powerful crime boss?
• Art Evolution: Huntress' Jim Lee-inspired character model, which debuted during "Initiation" is slightly tweaked and redesigned (the mask especially) for this episode (and the remainder of Unlimited).
• Author Appeal: Episode writer Gail Simone of course was the then-current writer of Birds of Prey and had history with Huntress and Canary. This also technically makes it a case of Promoted Fangirl.
• Badass Boast: When Mandragora is poised to crush Green Arrow and Question.
  Black Canary: Didn't anyone ever tell you, Mandragora? No one messes with the Justice League.
• Batman Gambit: The Question misdirects Green Arrow and Black Canary with his own keys as a fake clue while he palms the real one in secret. Green Arrow, suspecting as much, pretends to fall for the bait in order to tail Question.
• Berserk Button: Black Canary takes Mandragora's repulsive come-ons in stride, but when Mandragora makes a crack about her relationship with Green Arrow, she punches him.
• Bring It: When Black Canary contacts Question to order him to pull over, Huntress takes the communicator and shouts this at her.
• Butt-Monkey: Cecil, who not even Tony has the patience to deal with, simply telling him "You're killing me, Cecil."
• Call-Forward: Mandragora’s son is Edgar Mandragora, who grows up to be leader of a psychic cult faced by both the new Batman and his ally Zeta at different points.
• Cutting the Knot: With Huntress's lie failing miserably, Question opts for a different tactic: slugging Green Arrow.
• Designated Girl Fight: When the two pairs of heroes engage in battle, Green Arrow takes on The Question, while the two women, Black Canary and Huntress, face off.
• Didn't Think This Through: Huntress thought she could simply lie about being at the safe house on League business. It didn't occur to her that Green Arrow and Black Canary would be in contact with the guy who kicked her out of the League for trying to kill the guy who's in said safe house.
• Dies Differently in Adaptation: Mandragora makes mention of a Tommy Monaghan who was killed when he "accidentally" fell on a train track. Tommy Monaghan was the titular character of the DC Comics series Hitman, which ended with Tommy getting shot and dying from bleeding out.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Franco Bertinelli was a powerful crime boss, but when Mandragora came to kill him, Franco's first priority was to get his daughter out of harm's way.
  • Mandragora is an awful human being, but he clearly loves his son.
• Exact Words: When Green Arrow asks Question why he's helping Huntress hunt down Mandragora, Question's response is, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." At the end of the episode, it turns out that he's doing it not because he wants Mandragora dead or because it ties into some conspiracy theory or other, but because he has a crush on Huntress.
• Expy: Mandragora, an obese albino crime lord, is one for Black Lightning villain Tobias Whale.
• Flashback: When Question talks about how Franco Bertinelli was a crime boss and that Mandragora was a mook that turned on him.
• The Ghost: One of the people Mandragora mentions to Faraday is Tommy Monaghan.
• Harmful to Minors: Helena witnessed Mandragora killing her parents. Realizing that she's a step away from putting Mandragora's son through the same thing is what finally convinces her to let go of her desire for revenge.
• Headbutting Heroes: Green Arrow and Black Canary (reluctant bodyguards of Steven Mandragora) at odds with Question and Huntress (who wants to kill Mandragora).
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Mandragora hints towards this, suggesting he put Canary in a cage to make her sing for him. That’s what finally causes her to lose her temper.
• I "Uh" You, Too: Question awkwardly admits that he likes Huntress.
• Made of Iron: Mandragora shrugs off everything Green Arrow and Question hit him with, manages to endure a Canary Cry, and after that a crate full of steel rebars falling on him.
• Manly Tears: A female variant; as Question relates her backstory, Huntress tears up, but she keeps her voice steady and just wipes her tears away.
• Meaningful Echo: "Get behind me, [Helena/Edgar]."
• Necktie Leash: Huntress drags Question aside for some private time at the end of the episode this way.
  Question: Where are we going?
  Huntress: Don't ask so many questions.
• Never My Fault: Huntress refuses to accept responsibility for her expulsion from the Justice League, bitterly throwing her membership card in J'onn's face and saying she hopes he chokes on it.
• No Honor Among Thieves: King Faraday notes how many of Mandragora's criminal associates keep winding up dead. Mandragora claims they just had bad luck.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • After Black Canary runs out of breath and can’t keep using her sonic scream, she blanches when Mandragora is still standing and walking towards her.
  • Black Canary and Green Arrow, when they realise that the Question has tricked them into the path of an oncoming train.
  Black Canary: Whoops.
• Only Sane Man: Green Arrow continually questions Black Canary's brash moves and Question's involvement in all of this.
• Papa Wolf: Mandragora notes that he ensured his son Edgar's captors "were taught the error of their ways."
• Power-Strain Blackout: Maintaining her Canary Cry for too long causes Dinah to run out of breath and collapse.
• Ramp-rovisation: During the car chase, both Huntress and Question and Black Canary and Green Arrow, jump up to a section of road using a car carrier trailer's ramp.
  Green Arrow: This is so unnecessary.
• Secret Test of Character:
  • How the episode opens. J'onn orders Huntress to stay away from Mandragora and had him moved before she could get to him; Huntress ignored the order and tried to kill Mandragora anyway, costing her her League membership.
    J'onn: Tonight was a test, and you failed.
  • The Question knows that Edgar is on the freighter. Because of his feelings for Huntress, he lets things play out the way they do in order to force her into another one of these. This time, she passes.
• Single Tear: Huntress when Question finishes explaining what he knows about what Mandragora did to her parents.
• Skewed Priorities: After Green Arrow has them transported out of the path of a moving train, Black Canary is furious, because her motorcycle (which she built by hand) didn't make the trip and was wrecked by the train.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Huntress offers to tell The Question everything she knows about Cadmus in exchange for his help with Mandragora. The Question is a detective with enough skill to impress Batman himself. It thus comes as no surprise when he reveals that he knew all along that Huntress was lying about having intel on Cadmus.
• The Starscream: Mandragora used to answer to Helena's father. He eventually stopped taking orders and murdered Helena's parents.
• Tempting Fate: Huntress makes an ill-advised remark while she has the upper hand on Black Canary. She doesn't keep the upper hand for long.
  Huntress: And I heard you were supposed to be some kind of brilliant fighter!
• Turn in Your Badge: Huntress is expelled from the League for trying to kill Mandragora.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Mandragora is a complete jerkass to his protectors, treating them like serving staff and making crude remarks about Black Canary.
• Unwitting Pawn:
  • Mandragora is using both the League and Faraday's team by pretending to flip. He is just stalling for time until Edgar is returned.
  • Huntress thinks she's doing this to the Question by securing his help in exchange for information on Cadmus that she doesn't actually have. However, the Question being the Question, he already knew her history with Mandragora and also knew that she didn't really have anything to tell him about Cadmus; he agreed to help Huntress because he likes her.
• Villainous Glutton: Mandragora never intended to cooperate with the authorities, but it didn’t stop him from swindling them out of an unhealthily large amount of oysters, and he still asks for more.
• What Does She See in Him?: Black Canary's reaction to Huntress and Question, though she doesn't actually say whether it's her taste or his that disgusts her.
• Women Are Wiser: Inverted; Question and Green Arrow both maintain level heads throughout the episode (or as much of a level head as Question ever has) while Huntress and Black Canary get a bit carried away with their newfound rivalry.